Abstract P6-05-55: Financial Toxicity Outcomes on a Phase I 5-fraction Partial Breast Irradiation Protocol for Early Stage Breast Cancer
Authors: Ambrosia Simmons, David Sher, Dong W. Nathan Kim, Marilyn Leitch, Rachel Wooldridge, Sally Goudreau, Stephen Seiler, Sarah Neufeld, Maggie Stein, Kevin Albuquerque, Ann Spangler, John Heinzerling, Dan Gardwoood, Stella Stevenson, Chul Ahn, Chuxiong Ding, Robert Timmerman, Asal Rahimi
Journal: Cancer Research (2023)

Abstract Purpose/Objectives: Accelerated partial breast irradiation (APBI) has been shown to have both acceptable oncologic and cosmetic outcomes for early stage breast cancer following breast-conserving surgery (BCS). Given the demonstrated financial toxicity (FT) of conventional radiation treatments on breast cancer patients, we wanted to quantitatively assess the FT on patients treated with APBI in our phase I five fraction stereotactic APBI (S-PBI) trial, which could be generalized across APBI treatment regimens. Methods: A phase I dose escalation trial of S-PBI for early stage breast cancer following BCS was conducted. Women age &amp;gt; 18 years with in-situ or stage I-II (AJCC 7) invasive breast cancer &amp;lt; 3 cm following BCS with &amp;gt; 2 mm margins were treated with S-PBI in 5 fractions to a total dose of 30 to 40 Gy over 2.5 Gy increments (Clinical trials.gov ID NCT01162200). One month following completion of treatment, patients were asked to complete our novel “Patient Perspective Cost and Convenience of Care Questionnaire” developed at our institution. Results: Of 75 patients enrolled and treated, questionnaire data was available for 66 patients. Our trial encompassed a wide spectrum of annual household incomes, with 25.5% of patients (n=14/55) reporting income of less than $30k and 45.5% (n=25/55) reporting incomes of more than $80k. Educational status was also well represented with 53.1% completing at least some college (n= 34/64), 25% holding post graduate or professional degrees (n=16/64), and 21.9% patients reporting a high school equivalent or less (n=14/64). Overall 48.4% of patients (n=30/62) said that oncologic treatment did not present a financial burden; however, 29.0% (n=20/62) patients reported a somewhat to significant financial burden. Neither household income nor patient education status predicted perceived FT. Of the 6 patients (9.7%) who reported significant FT, 5 reported travelling at least 25 miles one way for treatment with 2 of these patient travelling over 175 miles. Half of the patients reported having private insurance for medication (49.2%, n=32/65), 33.8% had governmental coverage (n=22/65), 6.1% had both private and government coverage, 7.7% had no coverage (n=5/65), and 3.0% were unsure of their coverage (n=2/65). Only 1 of the 6 patients with significant FT had no coverage. Over half of the patients (54.2%, n=34/62) reported a co-pay during their treatment with a median out of pocket cost of $300 for treatment (range $10-10000, n=16). Over half of the patients were working full or part time during treatment (54.2%, n=32/59). All 26 patients that were working full time had to take time off work for treatment (median of 5 days, range 0.25 days – 10 days). Over a third of these patients (34.6%, n=9) had to use vacation time or unpaid time off. There was an additional patient who reported months off without pay. Additionally, 24.2% of patients (n=15/62) reported they had family or friends take time off work due to the patient’s treatment. Finally, patients were surveyed on the treatment related disruption to their daily activities and enjoyment of life rated on a scale 0-10, with 0 being no disruption, median values were 3 and 1, respectively. Patients also reported a median score of 10 (scale 0-10, 10 being most satisfied) on satisfaction with treatment time. Conclusions: In this cohort of patients, interestingly FT was significant primarily in the 10% of patients who traveled a significant distance for these treatments. However, despite this, and the fact that patients were undergoing cytotoxic cancer therapy, impressively, all patients were uniformly satisfied with treatment time (median score of 10), and most did not express significant disruption to their life. We plan to explore the impact of further reducing treatment fractions (with our single fraction S-PBI studies) on FT and quality of life in future studies. Citation Format: Ambrosia Simmons, David Sher, Dong W. Nathan Kim, Marilyn Leitch, Rachel Wooldridge, Sally Goudreau, Stephen Seiler, Sarah Neufeld, Maggie Stein, Kevin Albuquerque, Ann Spangler, John Heinzerling, Dan Gardwoood, Stella Stevenson, Chul Ahn, Chuxiong Ding, Robert Timmerman, Asal Rahimi. Financial Toxicity Outcomes on a Phase I 5-fraction Partial Breast Irradiation Protocol for Early Stage Breast Cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P6-05-55.